Customer Reviews

On The Road to Freedom

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This side project of Alvin Lee (departing from Ten Years After's no-holds-barred style) contains some of his best work. Those who are only familiar with such monster albums as 'Cricklewood Green' and 'A Space in Time' may find this work puzzling. Hooking up with American gospel singer Mylon Le Fevre, Lee served up helpings of more textured, sophisticated music than TYA. Even overt rockers like 'Riffin' and 'Fallen Angel' exhibit a more "roots-rock" sound than such songs as '50,000 Miles Beneath My Brain'. Using the talents of many big names (including George Harrison and several 'Traffic' members), the result is more varied and intricate than previous works. Even his blistering guitar work shows more finesse than usual with TYA's releases. The songs here range from the interesting-but-mediocre ('Lay Me Back' and 'Carry My Load') to the truly superlative (the title tune, 'The World is Changing' and the country-fried 'Funny'). In my opinion, one of Alvin Lee's best songs (maybe his very best) is the titular 'On the Road to Freedon'; with Mylon Le Fevre providing only backing vocals on this track, it effectively is Alvin Lee and Traffic (Steve Winwood on piano, Jim Capaldi on drums and Rebob on congas). Boy, is it one great song. Searing guitar, solid drumming, tasteful piano, a rousing melody and Lee's vocals never sounding better. It's nice to have this release available after so long.
One other point...I don't agree at all with the negative review published here. I cannot hear any "needle scratching" (and I have a very good quality system). What I do hear is great separation, full-ranging dynamics and clarity. Maybe the reviewer got a bad disc. This is on the Repertoire label, known for their superior quality products (check out their release of 'Broken Barricades' by Procol Harum for a sonic treat).

Alvin Lee known for his lightning fast licks on guitar, soulful bluesy tunes and amazing live performances throws us a curve ball with the re-release of "On the Road to Freedom".
Originally recorded in the early 70's, it is Alvin's first "solo" recording. Solo in the sense Ten Years After was not involved with this fine work. Alvin joined forces with Mylon LeFevre, and many other noteworthy musicians (George Harrison, Ron Wood, Stevie Winwood plus others) and put out a
a fine piece of music. Much more mellow and melodic than his work with TYA, but with great feeling and depth. Alvin shares the vocalist duties with Mylon, and Mylon also belts out some very nice songs of his own.
Each song utilizes the various artists, with Alvin playing guitar on almost all of the tunes.
It has a variety of music styles as well, with a very country tune "Funny", to an almost gospel like tune "Lay me Back" to a very nice traditional Rock and Roll Jam "Rockin' Til The Sun Goes Down".
So although this is not the typical "Alvin Lee" recording, it is a must have for any fan of Alvin, or any fan of music with depth, feeling and emotion.

I had this as a record, along with a number of other Mylon LPs. Since most reviewers wrote about the Alvin Lee/ Ten Years After side of the duo, I'll write about Mylon's colorful past. Mylon came from the LeFevre southern gospel singing family and was kicked out for having long hair. His rock band, The Holy Smoke Doo Dah Band was the first group to have its own custom rolling papers. He cut an album on Cotillion called Mylon which, along with Larry Norman, invented gospel rock.

He later returned to his gospel roots (but as a rocker) with a band called Broken Heart, and became a music minister. Along the way he released a number of records, few of which have made it to CD. My favorite is an album called Weak at the Knees on, I think, Warner Brothers (before Broken Heart). Mylon has a great sourthern rock voice. He later made a video called "Stranger to Danger" that some people don't like but I really did, in which he rides a motorcycle, which he loves to do. He's worked a lot with Allan Toussant (sp.?) and is, I think, one of the great neglected rockers of our time.

Back in the mid-1980's, an interview appeared on NPR with Mylon LeFevre, (hough the interviewer was apparently from a Contemporary Christian Music media), where Mylon outlined some of his history in rock and gospel.

In the midst of it was a charming story he told, that goes like this. "Alvin (Lee) and I were working on this record, 'On the Road to Freedom', and took a break, and made our way to pub nearby. We weren't there long, when, of all things, in walks George Harrison. I told Alvin to introduce me, and he says, 'No - he's me neighbor and all, and I'll meet him someday, but..' 'Course, you know how the English are, all formal and all-that, so I just hopped up off my barstool, leaving Alvin behind, walked over, stuck out my hand, and said to George, 'Hi, I'm Mylon LeFevre, and I'm here with Alvin Lee, and we're makin' a smokin' album up the road; you wanna come by, hang out, play some, and do some blow...?' George grinned at me and said, 'Yeah, sure; great, man! No one ever asks me to play, 'cause of the Beatle thing..' So, he came over, and it was around the time he was writing stuff for Dark Horse, and I just loved his song 'So Sad', so we recorded it on '...Freedom'."

I did my best after that to scour used record stores for a copy of the album, all to no avail. Finally got a hold of a copy some 5 years later, and found it to be as extrordinary as everyone had been saying all these years.

Tasty, tasty, tasty....and as representative of the same devil-may-care attitude that brought Mylon off his barstool to greet George Harrison. What a great record!

It was a MAGIC night in November, 1973. I was on an extremely intense, extremely PHYSICAL date with..."a woman who I'd been warned about." About midnight, we went downstairs for a cold drink and turned on the TV, Wolfman Jack. And there was Jackson Browne whining, "....her waistline seems to be expandin,' although she never feels like eatin' a thing." And, needless to say, my libido plummeted WAY south. AH, but maybe my "date" knew me better than I thought, because she bade me, "Hey, dig what's comin' up NEXT!" I couldn't believe it: Alvin Lee, of eardrum crushing Ten Years After was doing a duet, now, with MY homeboy, the Suthen' Gospel singer, Mylon LeFevere, and they were performing a quiet, most BEAUTIFUL song, just them on acoustic guitars (!)called "Carry My Load." And the band they had put together for accompaniment! - wow, Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi from Traffic and a guy I'd learn to recognize about half a year later, bassist Boz Burrell, who I'd see for the rest of the seventies with Bad Company. "This is just TOO COOL!," I raved to my disinterested..."date," who, TOO, was thinking about the ramifications of what Jackson Browne had whined about a song or two earlier. Not to worry, about a month later, we, together, purchased "On The Road To Freedom," and spent early 1974 listening to it, pleasantly wasted, and ferociously ignoring tripe like "Spiders and Snakes" and "Seasons In The Sun." This album is incredible! Alvin and Mylon PERFECTLY balancing and complementing one another, playing mostly all acoustic guitars. But there are the exceptions! The last track, "Rockin'" WILL peel the paint off the wall, and the track that one R Wood contributes sounds like what the Stones would sink to after he joined. But I DO have to admit, "Let 'Em Say What They Will" DOES manage to capture some of the chemistry he had with the late, lamented Faces. George Harrison contribues "So Sad," which features his beautiful "weeping" guitar, and Mick Fleetwood's playing drums on it, too! This is great "I wanna kick back an' play acoustic and not HAVE to play 'WEE-WEE-DIDDLY''lead' guitar," music, just some tunes that a couple of pals got together with some friends, and didn't feel they had to show off. Mylon's voice is, as always, sublime, and Alvin's even a bit "mellow," too. But, yeah, if you insist, the electric guitars ARE there NICELY, and even ol' Mylon does a bit of letting it ALL hang out on the rockers. Believe me, this is WELL worth the 24 bucks Amazon's asking for it, and you better go for it, because I've yet to see it in ANY of the local CD purveyors -and, believe me, I have looked.

It's about time they released this classic of the 70's. This is like no other Alvin Lee album you've ever heard. With special guests Steve Winwood and the late great George Hairysong, as he is referred to in the linear notes, this is a must. But be ready to be blown away!!

I have loved this album for years, my father has it. I didn't think I would ever find it on CD, but here it is! It's rather expensive, but worth the money as you will not find this in record stores. This album has lots of famous rockers playing with the two lead guys - George Harrison, Ron Wood, Mick Fleetwood, Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi and others. If you are a fan of classic rock, particularly "deep album rock" - songs that were not top 40, this is a must have item!

It's interesting because the songs reflect what was going on in 1973, but they could have been written today.

I got this album in late 72, when a friend of mine, who worked for
Columbia Records in New Jersey stole a couple of copies, and gave me
one. This when I was in my rip-off the rip-off phase. Since then
I've bought both the cassette, and the CD. Not to appease the Karma Gods,
but because this CD is that good, from the deceptively simple first prime
cut, "On the Road to Freedom", through the suffle boogie of "The world is
Changing", and the slide guitair slide of "So Sad", to the opening
dominant chord opening of "Fallen Angel", and the folksey "Funny", and
then going into Mylon LeFevere gospel roots of "We Will Shine", and
"Carry My Load", then the Alvin Lee rockers of "Let them Say What they
will", "I can't take it", and "Riffin", and the just pure guitair
forte of "Rockin till the sun goes down", the combination of Alvin Lee
and his fabulous talent, and that unmistakable voice of Mylon LeFevre
combined to make one album for the ages, I would strongly suggest that
you find a copy of this album, tape, or CD and listen to it, if not
outright purchase it.

Finally someone decided that this classic rock masterpiece be put out on CD!!! THANK YOU! While it's a bit pricey at the time of this review, it's worth the money. With the incredible line up of guests on this CD and the material, I'm amazed that this wasn't more popular in the time of it's release than it was. I have been coveting my vinyl as I didn't know if it would ever make it to CD and it's almost impossible to find on Vinyl or any other medium for that matter, until now!
While it's slowly achieved the cult following that it deserved and is slowly making it's way onto more mainstream CD players, it's still often overlooked and underrated.
For any fans of Alvin Lee & Ten Years After or any of his other solo work to fans of Traffic & George Harrison, this CD is a must for your collection.
What might seem like an odd pairing to some, turns out to be a stroke of genius and the result is a masterpiece that deserves a place in the collection of anyone that was a fan of late 60's and early 70's rock, folk rock or country rock with it roots in the South, blues, or gospel, this is the LP you've been looking for.

I loved this album when it first came out. I purchased it in album, cassette, and 8 track formats. I agree there is something for everyone from acoustic country folk, bluesy heartbreak songs, it runs the full gambit.

One note however from a previous review. I believe George Harrison was referred to as Harri Georgeson